Ministers of OPEC and other oil-producing states are preparing to meet in Vienna. They will decide how to respond to calls -- including from the United States and India -- for producers to trim prices by supplying more oil to the market. A few producers are eager to pump more; others are vehemently opposed. Saudi Arabia and Iran -- fierce rivals for regional influence -- take different views.
If OPEC releases more oil, small, less prosperous producers such as Angola, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria will lose faith in the body.
A significant fall in oil prices would put the timing of the Saudi Aramco initial public offering (IPO) in further doubt.
Absent an oil-price collapse below about 40 dollars per barrel, US shale producers will keep expanding market share.
